


DA:I - Displaced

by rprambles



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attack, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 03:17:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19220482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rprambles/pseuds/rprambles
Summary: prompt: panic attack





	DA:I - Displaced

“You were a mistake. You should never have existed!”

Shit. Shit that’s not good. Dorian quickly throws out a counterspell, hitting Alexius square in the chest. Magic explodes outward, almost blinding, and nausea sweeps over him as the floor shifts. When it finally settles it’s a lot darker in the hall. Or rather, he’s not in the hall anymore.

Good news is he’s alive and so is the Herald.

Bad news is two masked fellows just charged in the doorway. And they don’t seem happy.

One of them takes two steps forward and receives a dagger in the gut. He slumps to the floor with a soft splash. Dorian deals with the other, easily parrying a swing. He sends a nasty jolt of energy through them and they crumple.

That dealt with, he summons a magelight and looks around. The room looks similar to the cells he passed in the the halls under the castle. Only if no one had cleaned it in years. He’s standing in a few inches of tepid water, rubble and decayed crates strewn about.

Displacement. That’s interesting- wait. Dorian looks around again. No, he is definitely missing a dwarf. “ _Kaffas._ ” Had there been a delayed effect on the spell? No, because he was still standing here. And the attackers were definitely dead. He quickly looks behind the rubble and sighs in relief when he finds Olek curled up there. “You scared me for a moment there.”

Olek doesn’t respond. Or move. Worry creeps back in and Dorian steps around the rubble. “Are you alright?” The second his hand meets Olek’s shoulder the dwarf flinches away. Dorian pulls his hand back. “…Olek can you hear me?”

After a moment there’s a short, jerky nod. Now that he’s closer he can see the man is shaking and hear muffled wheezes.

“Are you hurt?” A quick shake. That’s a relief. Not hurt, still lucid, but hiding- of course, _hiding_. “You’re scared.” He gets another nod. Dorian dusts off a patch of rubble and sits down. “Perfectly understandable. We just got yanked out of place and attacked. But they’re dead, we’re safe for the moment.”

Olek seems to relax a little at that. A few more wheezes and he can just hear him speak, or trying to at least. “Wha… wha…”

“What happened? I’m not sure.” Dorian rubs his chin, thinking aloud. “The rift moved us, but we’re still in the castle… of course! Not simply where, but when! Alexius moved us through time.”

Olek lifts his head a little, voice hoarse but stronger. “What?”

“I doubt it was his intention. I believe he was trying to erase you from existence completely so…” Dorian winces when he sees the dwarf shrink in on himself. Alright, glancing over that subject. “But he got reckless, threw us into the rift before he was ready. I countered it, the magic went wild, and here we are. Make sense?”

A soft huff. He thinks it might be a laugh. “No.”

He smiles wryly. “In layman’s terms, we punched a hole in the laws of the world and tossed it in the privy.”

That’s definitely a laugh. Olek raises his head enough to meet Dorian’s gaze, eyes red and puffy from crying. Dorian is abruptly glad he got yanked into the spell as well; he doesn’t want to imagine the poor man stuck here alone. He slowly reaches out and takes his hand. “Don’t worry. I’m here, I’ll protect you.”

Olek squeezes his hand with a weak smile. “…okay. Thanks.”

“Of course. Take your time, catch your breath. When you’re ready, we can… work out how to get back to our time.” That’s rather odd to think about. Olek squeezes his hand again and Dorian has a feeling he’s not getting it back for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> i did not write this all at once, this is what i do at work when i'm not busy


End file.
